June 28, 20251 yr #1 Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-K-4513 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) Band concert on main deck, during the ship's shakedown period, circa August 1944.
June 28, 20251 yr #2 Well I've seen white, gray and blue but never red. Maybe got in the wash with something red. Very cool picture thanks for posting.
June 29, 20251 yr #3 10 hours ago, j. t. thompson said: Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-K-4513 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) Band concert on main deck, during the ship's shakedown period, circa August 1944. Most likely, part of the emergency response team. Ships have fires and flooding, due to things other than battle. They are dangerous places to live and work. We had Damage Controlman, on dome sf the ships I was on, ( mostly the large ones), that wore red ball caps. When these guys were running through a passageway, and yelled “Make a Hole!”, you knew to get out of the way. Sometimes they were called the “Flying Squad”, or something similar
June 29, 20251 yr Author #4 Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-K-4528 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) "Abandon ship drill on the battleships after deck, during her shakedown period, summer 1944."
June 29, 20251 yr Author #5 Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-K-4562 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) Shakedown cruise circa August 1944.
July 17, 20251 yr Author #6 Picture scanned at National Archives / courtesy of Historylink101 / Naval Color Section "Division morning muster on board the USS Missouri."
July 17, 20251 yr #7 On 6/29/2025 at 5:15 AM, j. t. thompson said: Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command 80-G-K-4528 (Color) USS Missouri (BB-63) "Abandon ship drill on the battleships after deck, during her shakedown period, summer 1944." Interesting the Marine figures he needs a fixed bayonet on a ship during a drill.
July 17, 20251 yr Author #8 Hello Rhscott, I noticed that. At first, I thought the sailor had a white stripe on the back of his pants. Took me a moment to realize I was seeing a bayonet. There's a lot to see in that photo.
October 13, 2025Oct 13 #9 In the modern navy sailors who are fully damaged control qualified get to wear red coveralls so I would assume it's something similar. I'm not ships company and have been aviation my entire career maybe there is a Boat Chuck on the forum who could shed some more light on these.
November 8, 2025Nov 8 #10 I read in some WW2 memoir that the red-dyed hats were worn by the damage control division. That way they would be stand out in damage control situations to take charge over sailors from other divisions assigned to DC parties. But I cannot find where I read it. When I find it I will post!
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